Isabelle is a member of the youth panel for the upcoming Girl
Summit (19 July). She is passionate about girls’ rights and
effecting real change for girls and women across the world. She
has just returned from volunteering in India for three
months.

Recently, I was chatting to a friend about sex and relationships.

We are both 20-year-old women. I’m from the UK and have a
boyfriend, with no current plans to marry or settle down. It’s a
situation I’m happy with. My friend Sandhiya, however, is from
India and hopes to have a ‘relation marriage’ – an arranged
marriage to her first cousin. She is also very happy.

Arranged marriages provide the chance for both members of the
couple to give consent, or say no, to the match. Sandhiya wants
to marry her cousin and she’ll be 25 when the wedding takes
place. She has a college diploma and enjoys her working life.
Although arranged marriage seems alien to me, it is a socially
and culturally important practice that is not necessarily
detrimental to the lives of women. In India 90% of marriages are
arranged.

But what if Sandhiya had no say about her husband? What if she
were too young to make an informed decision about her future?
What if she were forced into a marriage that she didn’t want?

That situation is not as uncommon as you may think. One third of
the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are
married before the age of 15. The 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights states that marriage should be “entered only with
the free and full consent of the intending spouses”. If people
are not yet 18, can their consent really be considered “free and
full”?

When I went to India with the government-funded International
Citizen Service programme, my experiences there made me think
about what it means to be a woman and what else I could do to
help improve the lives of girls and women around the world.

Soon after my return I was given the opportunity to be part of
the youth panel for the government's upcoming Girl Summit, which will take place on 22 July.
The summit is focused on stopping the harmful practices of child,
early, and forced marriage (CEFM). Its other key focus is ending
female genital mutilation (FGM), an issue that affects many
countries including the UK, where over 20,000 girls are at risk
of FGM each year.

As these are global issues, it is imperative that we have global
contributions. Although our panel is made up of a diverse mix of
UK and international members, we need your ideas and opinions to
understand and tackle these issues in the best possible way.
That’s why global children’s charity Plan UK is leading a youth
consultation, supported by the UK government and UNICEF, asking for your opinions on CEFM and FGM.
Please contribute by completing the questionnaire and use this resource pack as a guide.
Your responses will be used to create a mission statement that
will be presented at the Girls Summit Youth Event on 19 July and
read at the summit on 22 July.

This mission statement will influence international policy makers
and charitable organisations. It’s a unique opportunity for your
voice to be heard at the highest level. Together, we can change
the lives of girls and women around the world.